Always a problem. Republicans consistent here:

Madigan’s legislation would authorize the City Council to levy $50 million more during each of five years, starting in 2016, to devote toward city pension costs. By year five, that tax levy would stand at $250 million more than today, but Republicans added up all of the revenue collected during that period and dubbed Emanuel’s handiwork as a $750 million property-tax increase that they wanted no part of.

“A $750 million property tax-increase is the last thing we need in Illinois,” said Rep. David McSweeney, R-Barrington Hills, who voted against Madigan’s legislation in committee. “This is outrageous. This is going to kill jobs. I oppose this tax increase.”

Compounding the no-new-taxes issue, of course, is the distrust that the city will use the extra money for pensions. Give them money, and with their longstanding penchant for meeting immediate needs, why should people think it will go where they say it will go?

From America 3.0: Rebooting American Prosperity in the 21st Century, —Why America’s Greatest Days Are Yet to Come, the book under discussion April 9 at the library:

It is important to realize that the [recent] global financial crisis . . . has deep roots reaching back many decades, and that all was not wonderful with the United States through either the second Bush or Clinton administrations, despite the partisan claims of various flavors.

Hey, say the Bush and Clinton-lovers, cut that out!

The institutions of America 2.0 had been growing increasingly unworkable over previous decades, and it was only by a combination of the deep reserve strengths of America (the culture, not the government) and a series of one-time tricks pulled by various administrations that had allowed prosperity to continue, at least in fits and starts.

Izzat so? cry GW and Bubba supporters, equally offended.

The institutions of America 2.0 . . . emerged in response to a series of real problems, and for the most part managed to fix or at least alleviate those problems. Yet in solving them, they created new ones, in many cases problems that would not show themselves fully for decades, often under conditions never anticipated during the Progressive era.

The Progressives and New Dealers believed that business was consolidating itself into fewer and fewer large corporations, who among themselves would plan the future of technology and lead the economy permanently. So long as this corporate structure could be regulated and steered by the government, and so long as the individual workers could be given security and stability through membership in government-approved labor unions, this was all fine with Progressives.

What were they thinking?

They believed this was the natural direction of social evolution, and that the main problems they faced were those of stabilizing this economy and making it fairer.

You don’t think so? Come and argue with America 3.0 co-author, Oak Parker Michael Lotus at the library April 9, 7 p.m. He’ll be delighted.

Sen. Don Harmon is one of top legislators in carding miles on state airplanes.

SPRINGFIELD – Despite its budget woes, the state of Illinois continues to operate a fleet of executive aircraft that ferries legislators, Supreme Court justices and statewide elected officials between Springfield and Chicago. 

The cost of operating the planes far exceeds alternative forms of travel such as Amtrak and driving.

He’s #4:

It is true that airplanes are the only way to fly. Yet and still . . .

The real Fair Tax has been around a while, and it’s just the opposite of Harmon’s definition. Again, he spins and spins and spins. Objections abound from Fair Taxers from around the country in Wed. Journal comments, as here, ripped from the online pages of the Wednesday Journal: . . . .

Read the rest . . .